Sonntag, 27. Dezember 2009

The ties between indicted banker Allen Stanford and
members of Congress -- including millions in contributions and
weekends in five-star Caribbean resorts -- are now the
subject of a sweeping federal investigation.

Just hours after federal agents charged banker Allen
Stanford with fleecing investors of $7 billion, the disgraced
financier received a message from one of Congress' most
powerful members, Pete Sessions.
"I love you and believe in you," said the e-mail sent on Feb. 17. "If
you want my ear/voice -- e-mail," it said, signed "Pete."

The Ponzi scheme was able to continue for so long due to "institutional influences" within the SEC.
As Feds Closed In, Stanford Boosted Efforts To Buy Influence.

The message from the chair of the National Republican
Congressional Committee represents one of the many ties between
members of Congress and the indicted banker that have
caught the attention of federal agents.

The Justice Department is investigating millions of
dollars Stanford and his staff contributed to lawmakers over the
past decade to determine if the banker received special
favors from politicians while building his spectacular offshore
bank in Antigua, The Miami Herald has learned.

Agents are examining campaign dollars, as well as lavish
Caribbean trips funded by Stanford for politicians and their
spouses, feting them with lobster dinners and caviar.

The money Stanford gave Sessions and other lawmakers was
stolen from his clients while he carried out what prosecutors
now say was one of the nation's largest Ponzi schemes.

Sessions, 54, a longtime House member from Dallas who met
with Stanford during two trips to the Caribbean, did not
respond to interview requests.

Supporters say the lawmaker, who received $44,375 from
Stanford and his staff, was not assigned to any of the committees
with oversight over Stanford's bank and brokerages.

His press secretary, Emily Davis, said she was unable to
comment on the e-mail sent at 11:31 a.m. on the day Stanford
was charged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission. "I haven't seen it, so I can't verify its authenticity at
this time," she said.

But the message found on Stanford's computer servers and the contributions he made to Sessions and other
lawmakers -- totaling $2.3 million -- are now part of the government's inquiry.

Records show Stanford also doled out $5 million on
lobbying since 2001, setting up his own Washington firm last year
with expensive furnishings and artwork -- the money
plundered from his customers' accounts.

D.C. CONNECTIONS
Over the years, he took on battles to protect his banking network while fending off regulators.

In 2001, he pressed successfully to kill a bill that would
have exposed the flow of millions into his secretive offshore
bank in Antigua.

The next year, he helped block legislation that would have drawn more government scrutiny to his bank.

While he was fighting reforms to financial secrecy and
offshore banking laws, Stanford was hobnobbing with dozens of
lawmakers.

Stanford hosted New York Congressman John Sweeney's
wedding dinner at his five-star restaurant in Antigua in
2004 -- toasting the couple for photographers -- and
staged a cocktail fundraiser for now-disgraced Ohio congressman
Bob Ney at his bayfront Miami office.

"He legitimized himself by having himself vetted by powerful members of Congress," said Steven Riger, a former vice
president at Stanford's Miami brokerage. "It was all about the public's perception."

The federal investigation comes after months of criticism
from victims' groups complaining that elected leaders failed
to vet Stanford before accepting money from him the past
10 years. If they had, they would have discovered that the
U.S. State Department in 1999 concluded that Stanford
helped create a haven for money-laundering in Antigua.

Political contributions from Mr. Stanford and his affiliated companies. For which purpose?